Stephen’s already written an extraordinary tactical preview, so I’m going to try to tackle this from a bit more of a subjective angle. Of course, it’s impossible for me to be anything but subjective when it comes to either FC Barcelona or Real Madrid, and it’s certainly something even worse when it’s the two of them together. I’ve had friends talk me out of chiding mothers in restaurants for allowing their children to be raised as fascists because said children were wearing Real Madrid David Beckham shirts. So this runs deep for me. In a general sense, one of the most attractive things about soccer is the metaphor of it and the histories of these two clubs combined with the dramatic difference in approach both on and off the pitch create the most obvious good-guy/bad-guy match in any league in any country. It just oozes symbolism, down to the shirt sponsors. UNICEF versus a gambling website. Whose side are you on?

Now, I’ll be honest and say I’ve been kicking around ideas for this for a couple of weeks now. I did decide not to finally sit down and write it until after the Panathinaikos match for solidarity reasons – of course it’s important to be focused on whatever’s immediately ahead but it’s pretty close to impossible not to feel the Real match creeping up for a month or so before it does. I’d like to take the opportunity to gloat about the 8-0 Almeria match and the dismantling of the Greek side in the Champions League mid-week, but of course Real nearly matched that by thumping Athletic Bilbao and then soundly beating a club with deep Barcelona connections in Ajax Amsterdam. So both sides spent the last week firing warning shots at the others, and this has (for me at least) made the tension a little bit higher this year than it normally is. And it is normally very high.

Of course, it’s worth mentioning that one thing that’s heightening the build-up is the extra day we all have to wait for the match since the clubs decided to move it to Monday. I’ve got mixed feelings. From a purely tactical and on-the-pitch perspective, it’s nice to have the extra day’s rest after the mid-week match in Athens and it gives Pep Guardiola the freedom to use his first choice starting eleven in the match without worrying too much about fitness. From the point of view of the spectators, though, it’s a pretty big disappointment to play the match on a weekday, especially in the middle of the day as it is for all of us in North America. It will take away from the atmosphere at some of the viewing parties, since some people out there will make the bizarre choice to go to work or school instead of watching the match. A good friend and fellow Barca supporter is coming to visit me this weekend, which we planned around the match, and now he’ll have to catch it back at home after a morning’s busride so on a personal note, it’s something of a shame as well.

One of the things that I find hard to explain to people who are casual fans of soccer or not fans at all of sports is just how little fun I actually have before and during matches. (In general, rather than try to explain it, I just lend them my copy of Fever Pitch.) So there’s always something worrying me until at least a 2-goal lead has been established. In the case of the Real matches, of course, this neurosis is amplified a thousand times and lasts for weeks leading up to the match. Don’t get me wrong – I’m always optimistic. I never really sense impending doom. But there is something to the intimidating larger-than-life quality of Real Madrid (a quality that I experienced myself in the Madrid derby match at the Bernabeau last year, which I wrote about before) that makes me anxious. This year, all of that anxiety is wrapped up in Jose Mourinho. I think about all the myriad threats in their playing staff – Ronaldo, Higuain, Ramos, Casillas, Ozil – and for each one, I dismiss the threat almost out of hand. But Mourinho’s the only member of the Real Madrid entourage that is coming to Camp Nou having won the last time he was there. And that makes me nervous.

Now I sincerely doubt we’ll see Mourinho (I refuse to use his ridiculous self-appointed nickname) use the same anti-football tactics he employed during last season’s Champions League semi-final. For one thing, he’s got a lot more attacking options at Real than he did at Inter and, for another, I don’t think Madrid’s fans or directors would take kindly to that sort of concession to Barcelona’s superiority. I do have to concede, anyway, that Mourinho has probably got a very good idea of how to win the match. It is certainly true that I can’t stand him, but that’s in part because of how good he is at what he does. I have every bit of confidence that Pep is capable of matching Mourinho in a battle of wits, of course, and I do really think that Barcelona will win the match. But in order to do that, whatever trick Mourinho has up his sleeve is going to need to be identified and countered awfully quick. I think that Pique, Puyol and whichever of the Keita/Mascherano/Busquets trio plays in the defensive midfield spot will probably be the key players for Barcelona in the match and, well, you could do worse than relying on them.